Action or Soaper?

I had read a lot of good reviews for The Twilight Samurai, so when I was in the mood for a samurai movie, I queued it up.

Now, there are 3 or 4 styles of Japanese movies that I like:

• Samurai action films, like Seven Samurai
• Art films like High and Low
• Anime
• Gangster, either samurai or modern
  

One style I don't like is "Homu Dorama" = Home Dramas = soap operas. Since these styles overlap, you might get an art film soaper (most of Ozu) or anime samurai, etc. The Twilight Samurai is billed as a samurai art film, but after due consideration, I deem it a soaper.

It is about a low-level samurai who goes into debt to pay for his wife's funeral. He is a nice guy, unambitious and hardworking, who loves his young daughters and doesn't want to remarry, even after he finds that his childhood sweetheart has divorced her rich husband. But the clan finds out that he is a skilled swordsman, and sends him out to kill.

So, two lightweight sword fights, a protagonist with a worshipful love interest, and lots of angst. If this were a Western, not a samurai film, it would be The Real McCoys, not Gunsmoke. Oh well, better luck next film.